The August issue of PURCHASING magazine ran with no transaction price tables. The September 4 issue had them. So too, does the current issue. Will they appear in October? We're not sure. It depends on the business formula we use for calculating editorial space. The point is we don't guarantee the prices will always appear in the magazine.

Readers who need regular monthly updates to PURCHASING's Transaction Price data can access the numbers, by subscription, through purchasingdata.com. Subscription fees are $99/yr for monthly updates to a single price series and $299/yr for monthly updates to transaction price packages. Subscriptions can be purchased online anytime using a credit card. Purchasingdata.com does not keep credit card numbers, nor does it automatically renew. Subscriptions can be purchased offline by contacting Kathy Becker at the e-mail address below. The charges defray our considerable market research expenditures and ensure we can continue to deliver high-quality transaction pricing data consistently at a time when budgets are being cut dramatically. That said, there are also several important benefits to delivering transaction price and other data through purchasingdata.com:

• First, by eliminating our press leadtime, we can deliver price data to users sooner (on the last day of the month in which we are collecting the data) and make fewer backward revisions based on surveys and other source data that arrive after our press deadlines. This represents roughly a two-week leadtime reduction.
• Second, purchasingdata.com becomes the source of record for our price database, meaning there is no confusion for users about which numbers are the correct numbers, no necessity for readers to track revisions themselves, and no risk of missing revisions.
• Third, the data can be downloaded (in comma delimited format) and imported to MS Excel or other electronic sourcing applications.

There are site license and volume discount options available for companies that use large numbers of data series on a regular basis. The contact is Corilee Christou, 513-727-8697 or cchristou@reedbusiness.com. We are also offering a limited trial subscription program at this time. If you would like to learn more or would like us to arrange a guided tour of purchasingdata.com for you, please send your request with name, company, and telephone number via e-mail to kbecker@reedbusiness.com. Volume buyers who regularly provide useable market transaction pricing source data to PURCHASING's editors can have access to the pricing data they help create. To learn more, contact Doug Smock at dsmock@reedbusiness.com.